MOVED VALUES

“The Artist,” a film without words by French director Michel Hazanavicius, is being released in Russia, which won several awards at the Cannes Film Festival and is now competing for ten awards at the American Film Academy.

The column is hosted by Maria Mazalova and Maria Semendyaeva

Surprisingly, the French, who are so proud of their cinematography, often manage to underestimate precisely those films of their compatriots that the whole world later extols. This almost happened with “The Artist” by Michel Hazanavicius: the film was only accepted into the parallel program of the Cannes Film Festival “Un Certain Regard” and only at the last moment was transferred to the main competition. The film captivated the Cannes audience, taking them out of the depression of “contemporary cinema” with violence, eschatology and pedophilia, at least for two hours. Instead of all this, there is a pure, funny and at the same time sad story of a silent film idol and a starlet who defeated the challenges of the sound revolution through love. Cannes rightly rewarded Jean Dujardin, who played with feeling the role of an arrogant actor basking in fame who finds himself out of work when sound comes to cinema. But the success of the film turned out to be higher than this prize, and she did not receive others.

Without dialogue, but rich in music, the black-and-white melodrama about old Hollywood became the record holder for the number of awards awarded to it overseas, and is considered the main contender for the Oscar. And not in the reservation of “foreign language films,” but in the most important and high-profile nominations, where usually no Europeans are allowed anywhere near them. Hazanavicius was previously known for parodies of James Bond, and Dujardin, although he is compared in his homeland to Belmondo, played comedy agents and other equally simple roles. Perhaps the lack of credibility of these reputations prevented the film from immediately getting a green light in France, but this did not bother the Americans, who don’t know anyone at all.

One of the best episodes of The Artist is the horror-style nightmare that the hero George Valentine has: the whole world is full of sounds, and only he is still doomed to be the Great Mute. Arrogance and fear of progress go hand in hand. Not wanting to believe in the end of a beautiful era, Valentin films a silent adventurous action film, but the artist’s former popularity now means nothing: the public demands not just spectacles with stars, but spectacles with sound. Valentin loses fans, patrons, family and drowns in the abyss of drunkenness.

Here two characters come into play, and it is difficult to say whose role turns out to be more significant in the end. Valentin has a fan named Pippi Miller: thanks to him, having appeared on the pages of the Variety newspaper, she quickly overtakes her idol and turns out to be the star of a talking movie. Now it all depends on how pragmatic or, on the contrary, sentimental she turns out to be. Pippi is played by Berenice Bejo, Hazanavicius's wife: after “The Artist,” she and Dujardin became the most famous French performers in Hollywood, displacing Gerard Depardieu and Juliette Binoche.

And yet the most stunning career was made by the Jackcrassel terrier Uggie. Having already had several expressive roles under his belt, in “The Artist” he surpassed himself, playing the living embodiment of devotion and love, combined with intelligence and dexterity. It is this magical dog that becomes the catalyst for the plot's suspense; he fits perfectly into the element of comedic gags and gives the film authenticity: without this four-legged character and virtuoso artist, everything would risk seeming conventional and archaic. The ten-year veteran of Ugga’s services to cinema have already been fully appreciated with special awards and nominations in Cannes and Hollywood. In addition, the dog will co-host Billy Crystal at the Oscars.

The main rival of “The Artist” in this competition is “The Keeper of Time” by Martin Scorsese. Both films are dedicated to the silent film era. American Scorsese talks about its beginning, inspired by the life of the Frenchman Georges Méliès. We see the opposite perspective in Hazanavicius: a French look at a key moment in the history of old Hollywood. The advent of sound brought dramatic changes to the global film industry, ultimately leading to the dominance of English-language cinema. "The Artist", which contains one single phrase, threatens to defeat the Hollywood monster with an old forgotten weapon. Without words.

Andrey Plakhov

The Great Mute has sounded